$2,000.00 puppy

[mentallylost]

For all of y'all who were on chat the other night and heard about my $2,000.00 puppy... I have a update. But before I give it, let me bring everyone else up to date and fill in the rest of the story.

The puppies name is Briar Rose and she is a Toy Rat terrier. She was named after the princess Walt Disney's version of Sleeping Beauty.

This story begins in the beginning of April this year when Briar Rose broke her left front elbow. She went running from the bathroom, tripped over the carpet, and tumbled across the floor. that is all it took. This tumble was followed by a storm of screaming, yelping, and a trip to the vet.

Vet #1 (local), took 2 x-ray's, gave her a shot, and gassed her (she was being difficult). But looking at the x-rays, the vet realized that there was nothing that he could do. This required a specialist. But realizing this he waved all of the fees except for the office visit. $40.00. So off to Austin to see a small animal veterinarian surgeon.

Arriving at the surgeons office, he proceeds to check out the x-rays and tells us that the elbow is broken in 2 different locations. This is going to require inserting 2 pins and a screw into the elbow. She is going to need to stay overnite and oh yeah, it is going to cost $1,276.90. But that is not going to be all. 2 weeks later, we needed to go back for a check up and new cast. $20.00 more. 2 weeks later, went back again. No charge this time. Went back 3 weeks later and it was another $67.00 for x-rays and to tell me that I need to return in another 4 weeks. This last trip would be to take more x-rays and remove 1 of those pins and send her home for good. This was going to be $200.00 more.

Neither the wife nor myself were able to take off from work on this last day, so we had to call and cancel the appointment. Atleast for a week or 2. We have not made it to week 2 yet. This is where the update comes in.

Today is Friday. We were supposed to go back down to the Austin Surgeon on Monday.

I walked in after work about 2 hours ago to find my wife laying on the couch with Briar Rose on her chest under a blanket. I stopped and stood at the door unsure of what this weird feeling was that I was having. But after my wife removed the blanket, I understood the feeling. Briar Rose was laying with another cast on the same leg. I am not sure how it happened, but it is broken again. This time it was not the elbow, just the leg. So that means that my local vet was able to set it without another trip to Austin. But it was still another $125.00.

So now we are up to...
$40.00
$1,276.90
$20.00
$67.00
$200.00
$125.00
________
$1,728.90
+$300.00 (the original price of the dog)
________
$2,028.90 and that's not counting either the gas money or having to stop and pick up a fish or 2 from their LFS.

And I think that the worst part of it is that she is not quite 6 months old yet. She was born on January 1, 2005. Or maybe the worst is really that we had only had her for 7 days when she broke her elbow. I don't know. Why do we keep dogs again.

[GIMojo]

lol coulda bought 6 more of em doggies

[mentallylost]

I tried to tell the wife that too. She didn't think that it was funny though. It's her dog. But she does know that there is now more $$$ invested in her dog than there is in my fish.

[Bearfan]

I'm willing to bet, if you took a stack of 2,028 $1 bills that it would be larger than the dog.

[TankGirl]

I think rat terriers are so cute! That is the kind of dog in the show "Show Dogs Moms and Dads" and I believe that one had a broken limb also - it must be that they have very delicate bones.

I don't even want to think what we have spent on our bullmastiff, who was not a cheap puppy, and even the surgery that we recently paid $560 for, only to have the same problem come right back and then wind up resolving on its own, making me think we could have saved that money.

At least you know you can't let a fracture heal on its own - as a responsible pet owner you had no choice but to get it fixed. What else would you have done? I feel your pain and hope that this is the last expensive health-related issue you have to go through with your Briar Rose.

[Menagerie]

I'm in the same boat, I just racked up over $1000 in surgery and related costs for my cat and I am seriously considering chemo for her ($2000). I love my cat

[TankGirl]

I hear you, Menagerie. A couple of years ago we had to put our Bilbo down from thyroid cancer that had metastasized to the brain - had we known it was cancer before the fact (vet said it was a benign lipoma) I really wonder what we would have spent to save him.

[Bearfan]

Do you mean Lymphoma instead of lipoma? Lymphoma is any of the cancers associated with the Lymphatic system while Lipoma is actually a tumor that grows in the fatty tissue (lip = lipid = fat) and so very rarely turns cancerous. Lipoma is rather easily removed, but if allowed to stay causes very little pain. Lymphoma is either Hodgkins or non-Hodgkins, but either way is pretty serious. Chemo can send it into remission withing a year often, but just as often it doesn't.

[Toirtis]

About 10 years ago I had a co-worker whose dog darted out in the street one day and got hit....the vet said that it was almost a lost cause....my friend insisted on fixing her dog up...the vets rebuilt him with a lot of surgery, pins, etc....in the end, he was pretty much as good as new...the bill came to $12,800.00!

As well, I have ferrets, and any sort of surgery on a ferret runs at least $500, and in many places surgery to remove adrenal tumours (not uncommon) or similar can run $1200-$3000.

Pet veterinary insurance can save your wallet.

[Billsgate]

Hey, send your puppy over to Europe, I have 2 uncles who are veterinarians. Could hook you up with a good price :P

That really is costly........I could make me a very pretty SW tank out of that!

[mentallylost]

At first, I thought that I was the only who would pay that sort of money to fix a dog that we had only for a week. When she first broke her elbow, I told my co-workers about the costs. Everyone of them told me how much it is for a .22 caliber bullet and how much we could have saved. Yes, the thought had ran across my mind for a moment. But I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't bring myself to kill her because of a broken elbow.

I am sorry to hear of some of your losses. And I am glad to hear that some of yours have recovered.

[JG]

Have you considered pet insurance ? There are several companies that provide it - about $350 a year. If this is going to be a repeating thing, it might be worth the cost.

In the meantime - go to Storm's in Lampasas and have a yummy burger and Cherry Lime Squeeze and relax.

mmmmmmmmmm. Storm's .....mmmmm

[mentallylost]

I didn't even know that it existed prior the the elbow incident. But yeah, I think that we are going to look into it now with the whole repeat thing. $350.00 a year is a whole lot better that $2,028.90 every 6 months.

Why did you leave Texas? I am supposed to be playing Golf there next Saturday with a friend. I'll stop at Storm's for you.

[JG]

Grew up on cattle ranch out towards Topsey - Graduated from Cove High - Went to college - got married - got a job - bought a house - had kids-.....

I still come back - my family has been there for generations ( Since 1854 )

Storm's is always on my list of places to visit.

[TankGirl]

Originally Posted by Bearfan

Do you mean Lymphoma instead of lipoma? Lymphoma is any of the cancers associated with the Lymphatic system while Lipoma is actually a tumor that grows in the fatty tissue (lip = lipid = fat) and so very rarely turns cancerous. Lipoma is rather easily removed, but if allowed to stay causes very little pain. Lymphoma is either Hodgkins or non-Hodgkins, but either way is pretty serious. Chemo can send it into remission withing a year often, but just as often it doesn't.

No, we all were very confident it was a lipoma by the way it felt and the location. I have worked for surgeons for many years and have assisted in the surgical removal of lipomas, as well as the needle biopsy of lymphomas, and though dogs and people are not the same anatomically, it sure seemed like a fatty tumor, and the vet agreed. Believe me, any little cyst or bump that comes up on my other dog gets an inexpensive needle biopsy, since removal of something tiny, if necessary, can save us a ton of grief down the road.

[mentallylost]

Decided to post a pic of my $2000.00 puppy. Jazzy is on the left. She is a Boston Terrier. Briar Rose, the expensive one is on the right. She is a Toy Rat Terrier.

[GIMojo]

carpet with dogs?! is that legal!!!???

[DeFeKt]

I couldn't bring myself to kill her because of a broken elbow.

gee, I hope the dog is dealing with it ok..
looks like it is, judging by the picture, but will it fully recover?
if it's going to disadvantage or cause pain for the lil guy, just remember, sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.
Nice looking pups too!
All the best with everything.

[sdellin]

I can see from the picture why your wife would want to spend $2k on this dog. It's a living thing with a heart and all it does is love you! You're not nuts, I would have spent just as much in the same situation.

I'm a sucker for a cute face and soft eyes... gee, that must be why I married my husband!

[coralife]

I will side with the wife, I know how is to get attached to something......... BUT 2,000.00 !!!! ouch!!